


Once More Mrs. Bridgerton

by Nu_toamna



Category: Bridgerton (TV), Bridgerton Series - Julia Quinn, Romancing Mister Bridgerton
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Polin, So any other tags?, Time Travel, YOLO, cuz whoooooo, just mentions or background, main focus is Penelope Colin, me? writing?, so Chile um anyways, well this idea wouldn't. leave. me. alone., yeah this is happening
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-15 15:02:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28815339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nu_toamna/pseuds/Nu_toamna
Summary: So you know that Tumblr post?- "Time travel bridgerton au where Colin travels back in time to before he got entangled with Marina after wishing he had more time with Penelope as his wife so he goes to more balls but doesn't wanna fuck the timeline up too bad so he still travels a little bit. But one season he comes home when Before he skipped it. And he sees Penelope at a ball when she's 21 and what's this? Someone is talking with her? Flirting with her?? He knows he's not courting her just yet but they do talk more often and by the gods THAT IS HIS FUCKING WIFE. Chaos ensues as he goes over, picks her up (strong Colin ftw) takes her to where his mother and her mother are speaking and announces to the stunned crowd that they're getting married" -this is that.
Relationships: Colin Bridgerton/Penelope Featherington, Not tagged but all the canon relationships will happen
Comments: 72
Kudos: 259





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Please Give Me Time  
> I have no idea how long this will really be and also I suck at getting the format right on AO3

It had been a blessing to love and live as he had. Fifty five years of marriage to the most amazing woman in the world. Seven children. Seven healthy children who had all gone on to give him grandchildren and even great grandchildren now. He watched as his family grew and thrived as the years went on. His beautiful wife there by his side. Colin could say with pride that he had few regrets in his life. 

  


In truth, he regretted two things. The most recent being allowing, or at least not going with, his Penelope on her to visit her youngest sister Felicity in the Americas five years ago. His darling wife, alone, with not but a young maid as her companion as their ship was ravaged and wrecked by a storm. Few survived, but not the flame of his life was doused. For five years he lived without her, each year feeling like a decade without her. 

  


His children have come, his entire family gathers by around him now. No doubt they could tell for some time that he is not long for this world. With his love gone, his laughter faded, and his strength waned. Even his infamous and inherited hunger went. Now he lays, in the bed that has been cold for so long, smiling. Smiling at his family and cherishes the love he can feel surround him. 

  


As he closes his eyes for the last time Colin thinks of his last regret. One that he has never been able to let go. He wasted eleven years with her, grasping at the wonders of the world to fill him. He would never regret his travels, but he regrets how alone he in them. Five years feeling fifty. What would eleven have felt like? Eleven years he could have been further blessed. His last regret, how he wishes, so desperately, for more time with her. His Penelope. 

  


Colin Bridgerton 

1791 - 1879 

Husband, Father, Son 

“See All The World Has To Offer, 

But Always Return _Home._ ” 

  
Penelope Bridgerton 

1796 - 1874 

Wife, Mother, Daughter, Home 

“Your Words Are Your Legacy. So Bear Them.” 


	2. Heaven?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "He woke as he choked on his breath - the dead can breathe?"
> 
> Colin. Oh Colin what have you gotten yourself into now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Thank you all so much for the amazing reviews! I'm sorry I didn't get back to each of you, I really wanted to but I was so overwhelmed by the response I didn't know what to say.

He woke as he choked on his breath - _the dead breathe?_ \- eyes watering as he fought to inhale air. A hand pounded on his back and when he finally caught his breath, he almost choked once more. There, concern in his eyes, was Anthony. His brother, younger than he had any right to be, was beside him. He was speaking but Colin could not pay his words any mind. Anthony looked on in befuddled concern as he stared at him.

“Honestly Colin, are you alright? You sounded as though someone was suffocating you!” 

Anthony sat on the bed, rubbing Colin’s back as he studied his face. Colin couldn’t believe his eyes. Anthony had passed over a decade ago! He was survived by his wife and children but his brother was surely gone from the world. The tears he shed that day, losing a constant in his life that he was never without before, could not be understated. 

“Anthony? How-” Grabbing him by the shoulders, Colin looked his brother over. No longer was his back hunched under the weight and strain of being the family head. No Anthony looked spry as could be, eyes young and naive in a way he had never noticed before. Colin stopped, leaping up from his bed as he hadn’t in over a decade - two if he was being truly honest, even with his love still around. Turning he couldn’t believe his eyes, he hadn’t seen this bedroom in- 

“Colin!” Anthony shouted, grabbing him and steering him to the bed. “Lay still - Charles! Charles fetch the doctor and inform my mother that Colin has taken ill.” 

_Mother?_ At first he let his brother hold him in place but his mother was here! He hadn’t- she was! Wretching himself from his brothers hold, Colin ran towards his mothers’ room. If he remembered correctly - _how could he forget_ \- she would be in the- There! Coming out of her bedroom at the commotion her family was causing stood Lady Violet Bridgerton. He stopped in shock at her appearance. Younger. Another gift for his eyes was his mother. Beautiful and undaunted by time, walking towards him with concern and motherly love on her face. He couldn’t take it and dropped to his kness, hugging her waist as he hadn’t done since her was a boy. She was alive. The plague had taken her strength, had kept them from seeing her in her time of need. Yet here she stood! Here was- 

“Colin! Brother whatever is the matter?” And again he could feel his eyes water as there stood his siblings, gathered around him and staring as he tried to stand adn reach them. They caught him in their arms asking him what was wrong, why he seemed so out of sorts. 

“A gift! A miracle!” He stood straight, “If this is heaven I have truly been blessed.” He smiled at them ignoring their confusion as he looked over towards his right, where his wife would surely be. No heavenly place would keep them apart, no blessing would be complete without her. And yet when he did, he felt his heart drop. So similar to how it did when he received the notice, Colin felt his hands go cold. 

“Where is she?” He looked at Eloise, but he saw no recognition. He backed away, looking his family over once more he saw what was wrong. None of them wore their rings. Not the family heirloom that his duchess sister wore, nor the simpler bands of his brothers. But- they would never accept a heaven without them, the never took them off in life. 

“Colin? Dear please! Breathe, you’re scaring us,” Violet began, “Charles! The doc- Colin!” 

It couldn’t be! It couldn’t be that he was without her again. He couldn’t! But as raced for the front door, he could feel it in his heart that it was true. He escaped from the Bridgerton house and fled to the Feartherington lot, hanging his head as he looked at the door he knew she was behind. It was opened before he could not, the ever loyal and sly Jeffries standing on the other side, candelabra in hand as he stared at Colin in the dim light. 

“Mister Brid-” 

“Penelope! Where is-” 

“Colin!” Exclaimed Benedict and Anthony, hauling him back from the frame of the door as he damn near pushed his way inside. “What in the seven hells is wrong with you! Apologies sir, our brother isn’t feeling well, please excuse his behavior.” 

“No!” Colin struggled before Daphne and Eloise grabbed his face, tears in their eyes as they looked him over, over coats hanging haphazardly over their frames. And as he stood there looking at Eloise he realized something with dread. If this wasn’t Heaven, if this wasn’t his final place of rest. If he was flung back or given sight of what is to be then Eloise, as with Anthony and his Mother, were over fifty years younger than when he- If Eloise was in truth seventeen as her face indicated then that meant- his _wife_. His Penelope. She didn’t know him. She wouldn’t truly know him, wouldn’t know the life they shared. If that was true then this wasn’t Heaven. 

This was hell. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Please let me know what you thought of it all.
> 
> now then on to what feels like is gonna be my usual format vent  
>  why. why won't you indent? i have the indent skin for this work and the prologue indented fine but now? now you wanna watch me suffer???? why.


	3. Author's Note

Okay so this is an author's note to inform everybody about why I haven't updated on so long. I want to include a lot of stuff from the books because you know the TV series only has one season. However I can't get my hands on the books my local library has them checked out for like six to like eight months for some of them and my library app hasn't checked out as well for like seven months I could only recently get the audiobook of romancing Mr bridgeton and even then it takes me a long time to get through audiobooks because of my auditory issues. I really hope you guys can understand why this is taking so long I would look for like PDFs of the books if I could find them however I've noticed that the quality of BDF's are really low and they destroy my reading experience because sometimes things are skipped the editing can be really janky sometimes sentences are missing and I don't want to miss an important detail not include it and then have you guys wondering why it's not there. I'm really sorry I'm trying my hardest to like find a copy of the books that I can but if it's not through my library or through like a PDF or something I just I can't get them I cancel forward to buy the books on like Kindle or or anything really like if I could find them in like a thrift store I would maybe get them but there's like they're so popular that I can't find any copies I am so sorry guys you have my deepest apology. if anybody wants to pick this up and like do their own version with this prompt I encourage you to especially if you have access to all the other books I just I'm sorry I am so so sorry this is why I like super disappointing I'm disappointed I'm just really sorry everybody.

Hi! This is an edit! I would like to thank everyone for their help and understanding! Y'all are amazing! 💜💜💜

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly I can't figure out how to get the formatting correct, it looked so much better in Google Docs. But here is a short little prologue. Very short. Uhm about the ages, I did the math on those and also looked at the official year of births on the site. Victorian ages looked to die young so Colin and Penelope Loved Exceptionally Long Lives. Erm tell me what you think? But also, I may just write the rest while in AO3 rather than copy and pasting so the format still won't be great but it's the best I can do to make sure it'll actually work. Welp this is J signing out for now


End file.
